Abstract:

This article analyses the concept of competencies and identifies the competencies needed by Higher Education Students to lead projects; to accomplish those goals the primary step was to determine the leadership competencies developed by Universities regarding project-based learning processes and compare it to the competencies perceived as needed by students. The research problem is anchored to the following research questions: What leadership competencies are developed by students in project-based learning? Does student work experience, gender or age contribute to a level of leadership skill attainment?. The leadership competencies identified by the students were pointed out through the questionnaire applied to 76 students by an online survey. The primary outcome of the research will be a proposal of a model of leadership competencies development for students to potentiate their leadership capacity as project leaders.

The primary objective of this research was to identify leadership competencies that students develop in project-based learning, and make recommendations for the higher education courses based on that methodology.

In this context the following research questions have guided the present study:
RQ 1: What leadership competencies are developed by students when applying project-based learning methodology?
RQ 2: Are the competencies identified by the students sufficiently learned in Universities?
RQ 3: Does student work experience, gender, or age contribute to a level of leadership skill attainment?

In this study, the research methodology was quantitative, based on an online survey.

The technique to collect data was an online survey applied to 76 university students and obtained a 46,8% response rate. The statistical analyses Cronbach's alpha Coefficient, Chi-square Tests, and Mann- Whitney Tests, conclusions point to generally positive perceptions of student's development.

In total the questionnaire consisted of 30 questions covering the following areas:
• Students background information (Question 1-4)
• List of leadership competencies developed when applying project-based learning (Question 5-30).

Analyzing the perceptions of the students regarding the leadership competencies development through project based-learning, it is possible to state that the competencies identified first by the students have a moderate or low development in current higher education courses.

Emerging from the results of the questionnaire it´s possible to conclude that all those competencies need a higher level of development through Project-based learning in higher education courses and that there are significant relationships between perceived leadership competencies development and the student's job, but no significant differences have been found between the three competencies dimensions – management, leadership, and communication - and the type of organization, gender, and employed/unemployed variables.

Most parts of leadership competencies are hard to be taught because their behaviorist nature and association with the transformational leadership style (Bass, 1990) and to facilitate the learning process can be used active learning methodologies (Friend and Militello, 2014) as project-based learning. This can justify why the students have identified a moderate development of these competencies in the higher education courses.

Keywords:

Project-based learning, leadership competencies, higher education students.